You can only pay into one of each ISA type every tax year, but there’s no limit to the number you can have. That may sound confusing, so you should know that there are 4 types of ISA available:
- Cash ISA
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Lifetime ISA
- Innovative Finance ISA
Your children can also have Junior ISAs (as long as they’re under 18) which could be Cash or Stocks and Shares. However, as these belong to the child, they aren’t included in the number of ISAs you hold.
How many ISAs can I have?
Technically, you can open and pay into four new ISAs every tax year - one of each different type. If you have existing ISAs, these can be kept open but can’t be paid into. This is true across each type of ISA, so to answer your questions:
- How many Cash ISAs can I have? You can open a new one every tax year and hold onto any you already have.
- How many innovative finance ISAs can I have? It’s the same for an IFISA – one a year plus any you already have.
- How many Lifetime ISAs can I have? You can open one LISA each tax year, keeping your old LISAs.
- How Many Stocks and Shares ISAs can I have? A new S&S ISA every tax year, alongside any old ones.
There’s no limit to the number of ISAs you can hold, only the amount you can pay into your ISA.
How much can you pay into an ISA each year?
The current ISA allowance is £20,000 but this is subject to change each tax year.
You can only pay into one of each type of ISA each tax year.
This allowance is for all your ISAs, not per ISA. So, if you had one of each type of ISA, your £20,000 allowance would be spread across all four. You can choose to split this however you want, the only restriction being the Lifetime ISA allowance, which can only be £4,000 of your £20,000 limit.
This is a bit different with Wealthify, as you could open multiple ISA Plans and pay into them within the same tax year. That’s because all your Wealthify ISA Plans are contained in one Stocks and Shares ISA, making it easier to try different risk levels or investment themes if you wanted to, depending on your suitability.
What’s the benefit of having more than one ISA?
Having multiple ISAs allows you to diversify your savings and spread risk. For example, holding both a Cash ISA and a Stocks and Shares ISAs gives you the benefits of saving and investing.
Each ISA has features that could be more suitable for different goals. For example, a Lifetime ISA can only be used to buy a house or help with retirement costs, a Cash ISAs can be easily accessed and are very low risk. Stocks and Shares ISAs could help you reach long-term financial goals, while innovative finance ISAs allow you to invest in opportunities like peer-to-peer lending in a tax-efficient way.
Can I keep paying into the same ISA?
Yes. You don’t have to open a new ISA each tax year even if you max out your allowance. This allowance refreshes so you can continue saving or investing in the same account. Any money already in the account will remain tax-free.
You can also transfer your ISA to another provider if you wanted to have all your money in one place. You’ll need to ask for an ISA transfer form, otherwise, you may lose out on the tax-free benefits.
Wealthify does not offer advice, if you’re not sure whether investing is right for you, then please speak to a financial adviser.
With investing your capital is at risk, so the value of your investments can go down as well as up, which means you could get back less than you initially invested.
Your tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances and it may be subject to change in the future.
